My Thought parlour

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It’s been months since I wrote my last blog and it was the time I started writing blogs too. I stopped writing in the same spirit in which I took up writing. I don’t like to blog unnecessarily unless I wish to, which my heart approves of. I love to write lyrical, rhyming, and poetic. I wish to be in a thought space where I’m thrilled by lines of words that are just incredibly written.

Every time I open a tab in the browser and check out the blog, my blog wall yells at me, calls out to fetch a pen & paper and write something. Then I go in search of what to write. Nah… It’s the time I curse myself for not making up some time for writing.

I have been in search of topic aftermath my last blog. If not a topic, few words to scribe down. In this journey of search, I stumbled upon a guy who was struggling to make his way up in rifle shooting. At the time I met, he said he stood 17th position in the recently held event. All he needed was a sum of Rs. 3 Lakhs only to buy a rifle for shooting. Whom to shoot? To train in rifle shooting. The institution in which he had been trained only offers a rifle if three of their candidates get selected for an upcoming event, so that they can share one rifle among three. A struggle of one doesn’t work here, three people have to struggle and make it to the top three spots.

I promised him that I would write about his struggling story and try to catch the attention of few. Those few would come handy if they help him in any means. That promise remained as a promise. I never called up this guy and collected information or asked about whereabouts and his status. I didn’t gather strength in me to write because I felt I can’t catch attention of the people on social media or I don’t have such a great following on social platform. There was also the fear if response went sour. I created a zone out of which I couldn’t come out. Am I judgmental about myself before any attempt? I don’t know!

He used to message me wishing on every festival that came in between these days. I never replied. But one day I felt like experimenting with my writing, whatsoever the result is and called him up. During our conversation I asked him if he could manage collecting money for the rifle. He told me that in a week a rifle will be delivered and he needs to pick it up from the airport. That was a moment to be ashamed of myself and to be proud of the guy. While I was struggling to build faith in myself to write few lines about him, he did manage to collect the hefty sum pleading many people and got the rifle to pursue his dream he believed in. That day I did learn a lesson that promises are meant to be kept not broken. That’s why they are called “PROMISES”.

Wish the guy (Let him be anonymous) have success showering upon him and wish he continues to put effort as like this all the way his life. After all his passion can one day turn out to be pride of the Nation.

Yes! This blog is my few experiences, thoughts on the stint with train. Indian railways.

Going by the title of a Hindi movie: ‘The burning train’, I have come across many friends who had a burning desire to experience a train journey once in their life. Not for the fact that they couldn’t afford but for the reason that their region had no access to train transport.

Ticking my brain cells, I can remember my first train journey in an awful state with fractured hand on a Diwali night and travelling to a hospital in a nearby city by train. Since then my most of journeys have been by train. It has become habitual for me to prefer train over bus. Flight is not my type! Itna paisa mein itna hi milega 😛

My conscience tells me that I enjoy it being for the reason that the fare is cheaper than bus transport or for the reason that the 6 ft 2” body can easily fit therein.

Hours after an online war with “irctc.com” to book a seat or standing in the long Q at reservation counter in the early morning or calling a booking agent and overpaying him, if at all a seat is booked then “You’re a winner”. Raise a toast. At least you feel to do so. If you haven’t experienced, google ‘irctc trolls’ to have a laugh burst.

Though booking is a pain, what makes train journey so special? It can be a sleeper seat, cool breeze through the windows chilling you, different people with different cultures or a moving toilet?? 😛 It is the passengers. Noticed or not, we get to see travelers enroute to Vaishno Devi singing bhajans and playing ‘dafli’, students going for a sports meet, a group of relatives & friends playing a game of cards and sharing their home made snacks. And there’s another set of people i.e., daily passengers. They amuse me for their network of friends they have. More than on my Facebook! They have endless topics to speak on and debate during their journey. The vegetable market comes to them at few village stations and lady travelers clean it there itself. ‘Time management’. Few might do family plan as well. Some journeys are just like fairytales to tell.

And travelling by the country side, children waving to passengers have always enthralled me and have brought smile. A wave back at them, they jump off their feet. ‘Expressionless moments’ they are.

Without these trains Indian cinema would have been incomplete and we could have missed great actions and dance steps. So many action sequences shot on them, so many songs choreographed on them, so many love stories blossoming in them! The most successful ran movies like Sholay and DDLJ have train journey as their USP.

The best part of these journeys is that you get to see a lot of teens (Select your opposite sex :P) and another is that unlike in bus stands no one comes to ask you “Where is this train heading?”/”Kya yeh Dilli jaayega?”

A big salute to Indian railways for giving such wonderful memories to carry on and for being employer for 1.3 million Indians. The world’s largest network of transportation and ninth largest commercial or utility employer. It even gifted us ‘Captain COOL’ of Indian cricket team, M.S. Dhoni.

As I turn back my pages of life to revisit my childhood, I cherish those moments where I was free of worries. Only thing that worried me that I was not with my parents being in residential.

All of us going from remote village areas became a part of a campus away from city, town. Precisely to say a caged compound amidst deserted land. Not a vacation spot 😛
We had scheduled life since then. It sucks but it makes you a MAN. Seniors would rag all the day, PET(“Physical Education Trainer”, Those who are thinking of a pet dog) would come early morning sharp 5 with a hockey stick or a twig to get us to the ground. After all ‘Health is wealth!’. After that assembly, prayers, classes… Etc. in short, keep your face facing only to Teachers and books. The mirrors of our early life.

Again in the evening, we had sports for an hour. In the nation obsessed with cricket, we practiced athletics, hockey, marathon and football. At least someone is not becoming another Sachin Tendulkar. Destination doesn’t matter here as most of us ARE engineers.
At last dusky daylight, whole school loved to do was gardening. Exceptions allowed. A house has a designed area to garden. All the houses would compete to create a beautiful, artistic, flowery, colourful garden. We would carve our representative house names in the bushes. What a joy it was! What you give to nature is what you get back. That all moments and efforts we put in has been photographed as memories. And to keep our enthusiasm alive, a reward was announced annually just for the best garden.

I don’t know why I’m writing this long back experience but somewhere I feel this is what all we need. If not gardening, the gardens comforting us with its cool formula. May be the fact that I always used to see plantations conducted in my school at a regular basis and now I’m witnessing de-plantation more regularly. No.. This is Domino’s pizza effect. Huh! Saw too much usage of card boards, paper cups, paper buckets and boxes. An episode of Satyameva Jayate(http://www.satyamevjayate.in/dont-waste-your-garbage.aspx) in the morning, lunch at domino’s just got me to get immersed in deep thoughts and took back to those golden days.

I love to relive that moment which I cannot. So let’s just live this moment and try not to waste ourselves creating waste.